For seventh time representatives of the 47th countries that have signed the Bern convention, have rejected Bulgarian ecologists’ requests for stopping Struma Highway construction through the Kresna gorge.
The decision not to open a file for the situation has been taken today at the meeting of
The Convention in Strasbourg, Eco News reports.
Ecologists delegation in Strasbourg is being led by Andrey Kovachev, former advisor of Borislav Sandov while the latter was an ecominister. Other members are Daniel Popov from the bureaucratic coalition "For nature to remain in Bulgaria" and husband of the former deputy. minister of Borislav Sandov, Maria Achkova, who is also an activist of Democratic Bulgaria, as well as the eco-activist from "Green Laws" Andrey Ralev, a member of the international organization with a controversial reputation Bankwatch. Other like-minded people from Brussels also participated in the Bern Convention.
Despite the pressure and lobbying of the greens to stop the project, especially Borislav Sandov and his team during his management of the Ministry of the Interior, this did not happen.
According to media information, during the eight months in which the Ministry of Environment and Water was in the hands of ecologists, led by Sandov, repeated and urgent requests were made to the Berne Convention to stop AM Struma.
State representatives participating in the Berne Convention have successfully defended the public interest. Their reasons and arguments, that all environmental procedures have been completed, in accordance with Bulgarian and European legislation, and that the project should continue, have been accepted and approved by the Convention.
The decision of the Convention not to open a file for AM Struma means that the work on the implementation of the project can continue.
The Ministry of Regional Development and Minister Ivan Shishkov are now on the move. After the environmental procedures have already been completed by
The Ministry of the Environment and Water and Minister Karamfilova, now the MRRD must complete all the procedures started in order to start the construction of the Struma Motorway through the Kresna Gorge. This should happen by May 2023, when the EIA of the project expires.
If Minister Shishkov and the department managed by him do not move the procedure forward, Bulgaria will have to return BGN 1.6 billion to Brussels for the routes built so far.
The other decision for Bulgaria, which was taken at the Berne Convention, is that after 18 years the file on the Kaliakra case is closed.
Then, in 2004, following complaints from ecologists, the Bern Convention began to check whether the eco requirements for the construction of wind farms in this area were met. The reason was that the feathers threatened the habitats and populations of the red-breasted goose.
Today's decision by the Convention means that the measures taken by the state guarantee the protection of the red-breasted goose and other endangered species.
